There are not over a 100 people in the U.S. that hate the Catholic Church, there are millions however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church, which is, of course, quite a different thing.- Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Friday, July 1, 2011

So far, I have fallen very far behind in reading the Bible each day, so by the weekend I hope to be caught up. Yesterday, I finished the 3 days worth of readings that finished May. Today, tomorrow, and Saturday catch me up with all of June. To keep some of the information in my head, I will blog each of the three days.

So far...

2 Samuel is now finished. King David doesn't actually die until the first verses of the First Book of Kings. Until Chapter 12, 1 Kings talks about King Solomon.

I have found another engineer in the Bible! 1K 7:13f. "King Solomon had Hiram brought from Tyre. He was a bronze worker, the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali; his father had been from Tyre. He was endowed with skill, understanding, and knowledge of how to produce any work in bronze. He came to King Solomon and did all his metal work"

After Solomon is the split of Israel from Judah and Benjamin (which is sometimes referred to as "only one tribe left"... I guess the Benjaminites are still not built up enough to count as anything...do you remember that they were practically wiped out?) 1 Kings then tries to follow the royal lines of both simultaneously. Judah: Solomon>> Rehoboam>> Abijam (not to be confused with the prophet Ahijah or Jeroboam's son Abijah)>>and lastly Asa (so far). Asa was a really good king. He banished all the idols and he gets the compliment of "[his] heart was entirely with the LORD as long as he lived" (15:14). Israel's line: Jeroboam>> Nadab>> Baasha>> Elah>> Zimri (7 whole days!)>> Omri>> and lastly Ahab, who everybody knows, because everybody knows his wife, Jezebel. Enter Elijah.

Really good passage: Chapter 18. "Call louder... perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened"

Really good passage: 19:11-13. "After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound"

There are a lot of lions sitting around waiting to eat people who disobey God.

Finishing Mark, beginning 1st Corinthians. There's so much in Paul's writings that to treat them fairly would mean analyzing each word. However, I must catch up,so I will try to glean what I can.

1 Cor 1:20 "Has not God made the wisdom of the world foolish?" 25 "For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength"

Purgatory IS in the Bible, and don't you let anyone tell you otherwise! 1 Cor 3:10-15 "But if someone's work is burnt up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire."

Hard words to live: 4:12f "When ridiculed, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we respond gently"

10:6 "[The events of the Old Testament] happened as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil things as they did." Having the letter of Paul describing events of the Old Testament would not make sense if it was not included in the Bible. But, this means taking the Bible as a whole to be followed to the letter would be contradictory. But, everything in the Bible is not meant to be a self-help book. It is all meant to point to Christ, the Word of the Father.

There's a lot of the Catechism to catch up on too. Currently, it's discussing death and the last things. I don't know why but thinking about Heaven has always given me shivers. So I usually try not to think about it and just trust that Jesus will sort it out. Quote from (my patron) St Therese of Lisieux: " I am not dying; I am entering life"

My reading for tonight ends with discussing liturgy, or, the work of the Church. Christian liturgy is to be "a response of faith and love to the spiritual blessings of the Father" and "to beg [the Father] to send the Holy Spirit...so that these divine blessings will bring forth the fruits of life" (CCC 1083)

Followers

I suppose I should write somewhere on here that I am flawed. I promise to try to the best of my ability to say the truth. But sometimes I don't know it as well as I could. I'm not a theologian. The authoritative source on the deposit of Catholic faith is the Catechism, not me. So in case of a discrepancy, it wins.